Canadian Vietnam Fake Hero Author Copied LIfe of Real Florida Veteran

Nanton author Dennis Surrendi plagiarized Vietnam veteran's life story
CALGARY SUN
Michael Platt
FIRST POSTED: MONDAY, JUNE 01, 2015

But when it comes to bragging about fake medals, Mason says he hopes Canadian police throw the book at Surrendi.

“To me that’s the major crime here, and he’s really made some people angry by doing that,” said Mason, speaking to the Sun from his home in Florida.

Dennis Surrendi has admitted that he was never in the Vietnam War and and took large parts of the book he wrote, called "Set Me Free", from a popular Vietnam War memoir, called "Chickenhawk", written by Robert Mason. Nanton News file photo

There, on Page 6 of the Nanton News, is the damning confession.

“Firstly, I am not a war veteran and secondly, much of the material contained in my book was copied from another book written by a Mr. Robert Mason titled: Chickenhawk.”

And with that admission, Dennis C. Surrendi’s deceitful tale of war heroics and chest full of medals earned as a Vietnam helicopter pilot comes crashing to the ground.

It’s a big fall for a man once feted as a local war hero, signing autographs and shaking hands with military veterans.

Surrendi was forced to confess after being confronted by the actual Vietnam helicopter pilot whose words he stole — and to avoid a lawsuit for plagiarism, the author of Set Me Free agreed to admit his guilt in the local paper.

It’s a small ad, with the word “sorry” conspicuous by its absence — but the few words serve to completely discredit a man who’d been posing as a decorated war vet.

“It’s unbelievable to me that someone would do something like that,” said Robert Mason, the actual author of Chickenhawk, the book from which Surrendi stole.
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Robert Mason Chickenhawk